Behemoth leader Adam “Nergal” Darski joins forces with John Porter to bring the darkness to the country.
When the Behemoth frontman announced that the next project in his impressive CV would not be an immediate follow-up to the sublime “The Satanist” album but instead a collaboration into the dark side of the Blues and Country music, then the majority of extreme metal lovers the world over may well have choked a little on their blackened cornflakes.
However, Adam Darski is nothing if not a man of conviction. By teaming up with british/polish rock musician John Porter he has brought his chilling vision of the world into the public domain in a slightly more, but by no means less intense, ear-friendly medium.
Both men utilise a love of Delta Blues, Folk and Country music to tell their 13 tales of despair, love and, of course, death. All of the tracks that make up the album evoke a spirit and smell of dark and dusty western plains. Clearly Darski could never get away with this under the banner of Behemoth but then as he shows, he has more than one way to bring the darkness.
Comparisons can, and will be, easily be made with artist like Nick Cave, Tom Waits, the darker side of Johnny Cash and the recently departed wordsmith Leonard Cohen. The comparisons are fair as there is no doubt that Darski & Porter will have taken some sort influence from those celebrated artists in order to create this album, which although the product of outside inspiration is very much personal and introspective as it gets.
Although Darski will be the more marketable and familiar name in this duo, be under no illusion that this is most definitely a duo and not Nergal + one. Porter stamps his authority on this album just as much as Darski. “That Man” or “Me” depending on which role each has taken, has nearly 40 years of recording experience to call on and his guile and talent is a perfect match for his partner.
The opener “My Church Is Black” sets the tone of the album right from the off. It’s a somber rolling thunder track that could well play out the final scenes in a blackened western.
“Nightride” kicks off with a rhythm akin to Johnny Cash’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” and the foot tapping, gun slapping “On The Road” follows with the same attitude and raw intentions.
“Cross My Heart And Hope To Die” is a first gear lament that makes Nick Cave & his Bad Seeds seem positively upbeat. The inclusion of a group of children singing “we have chosen hell on earth” is as chilling as it is memorable.
Tracks like”Better the Devil I Know” and “Love and Death” add more energy and vibrancy to the album which is otherwise only gets to mid-pace at most.
“Of Sirens, Vampires and Lovers” offers a more ethereal quality with the soft vocal tones backed by a lush string orchestration that finds rare beauty in the otherwise tortured and mournful musings. It is an album that draws you in, takes you for a journey across dust ravaged plains and then dumps you back at the start.
Darski proves that he doesn’t need razor-sharp guitar lines with pummelling drums to be heavy. This is up there with his darkest material to date. He is not a man that does things by half and although musically it is far removed from the blackened metal of Behemoth he is still as lyrically sharp and cutting as ever. The less aggressive tones may have blunted the attack on the senses he is proving that the poetic pen is mightier than the six-stringed sword.
Donnie’s Rating: 9/10
‘Songs of Love and Death’ is out on 24th March.
